Valiant Lady Lions fall 1-0 to Rutgers in NCAA Tournament

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The Southeastern Louisiana women’s soccer team gave 22nd-ranked Rutgers all they could handle before falling, 1-0, on a goal by Amirah Ali in the 87th minute Tuesday night in the first round of the 2020 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament at Eakes Athletic Complex.

The Lady Lions (8-3-4) were tested defensively all night long as Rutgers (9-3-3) outshot SLU, 19-2 for the match.

“I’m really proud of our athletes for the way they executed the game plan,” said SLU head coach Chris McBride. “We played hard for every second of 90 minutes and I couldn’t be more pleased with the way our players represented themselves on the national stage.”

In the first half, the Scarlet Knight wasted little time in testing the SLU backline which entered Tuesday’s game allowing just one goal in the last eight matches. Rutgers attempted nine shots as SLU goalkeeper Nadine Maher had six first half saves keeping the match scoreless at halftime.

The Lady Lions, the Southland Conference Tournament champions, continued to hold strong in the second half despite Rutgers’ non-stop pressure offensively. The Lady Lions faced 10 more shots but continued to keep the Scarlet Knights off balance enough to keep the match scoreless for much of the second half.

It appeared the match was headed to overtime with under four minutes to go in regulation. However, Rutgers’ Allison Lowery got the ball in front of the net, the initial shot was saved thanks to a great diving save by Maher. Unfortunately for SLU, the ball deflected right to Ali who punched it in for the match’s only goal.

“The fact that we held them scoreless to the 87th minute with that type of pressure says a lot about our girls and the way they played. A team like Rutgers had a ton of talent and we played step for step with them.”

Maher finished the match with nine saves to cap off a remarkable run for the Dublin, Ireland native who had eight shutouts in the final 10 games of the season.

While the match didn’t finish with the result SLU was looking for, it put the stamp on a remarkable run for the Lady Lions. Southeastern racked up a boat load of achievements. SLU had five players named to the All-Southland Conference team, three Southland Player of the Week awards, the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year (Makenzie Maher), the Southland Freshman of the Year (Emma Jones) and McBride and the Southland Coach of the Year. Maher was named United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week for her efforts in the Southland Tournament.

“I think it just shows the quality we have in our team,” said McBride. “It shows you how good our conference is as well. But I’m really proud of the way this team played today and the entire season. We proved to a lot of people of what we are capable of. I just hope that this is the sign of many things to come.”